


Song Fics

by vikingtealight



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Hamilton AU, M/M, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-03-30 00:36:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13938840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vikingtealight/pseuds/vikingtealight
Summary: Collection of fic requests from my 1k celebration on Tumblr. First one is Byeler, but most will be Lumax. Tags will be updated when more fics are added.





	1. Satisified - Byeler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Satisified from Hamilton, requested by @bob-newby-superhero

Will didn’t think he’d meet his soulmate while kissing another man. **  
**

Will remembers hearing footsteps approach and accidentally pushing his kissing partner—Will was embarrassed to admit he had forgotten his name now—back so far that the man fell into the rose bush when they broke apart. Looking back on it, he’d realize how symbolic that moment was—he’d push away any man for Mike Wheeler.

The two of them stuttered as the man Will would learn was named Mike looked at them. Before either of them spoke a coherent sentence, the man Will was kissing ran away.  

“He didn’t have to go,” said Mike—although at this point he was just a tall, handsome stranger in an army uniform.

“I—Uh, What?” Will stuttered, unsure what to do now that this man had seen what could best be described as an “indiscretion.”

“I like kissing men too,” said Mike. “And women. I like both, I mean.”

“I just like men,” Will admitted.

 _Men with dark hair and freckles_ , Will thought to himself.

“My name’s Mike. What’s yours?”

Will realized he had been staring and struggled to remember his name for a moment.

“I’m Will, William Hopper.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Will William Hopper.”

Will smiled at his dumb joke.

“Where are you from?” Will asked.

Given that Mike wore a union army uniform and Will had never seen him before, Will suspected he wasn’t from around here.

“Hawkins,” said Mike.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s not really a place worth hearing about,” said Mike as he rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly seeming nervous.

Will was about to ask where Hawkins was when Mike said, “I’m from here originally though.”

“Really?”

Mike nodded and paused. “I’m Ted Wheeler’s son.”

Will knew that name. The Wheelers has caused quite a scandal when Karen Wheeler had left her husband and run off with her three children to live with another woman in the backcountry.

Karen Wheeler was kind of his hero.

But to everyone else, she was a disgrace.

“I can see why you might leave that detail out,” said Will. “But I think your mother is quite brave for what she did.”

Mike smiled. “I think so too.”

Will felt a warmth in his chest as if his heart had been lit aflame.

Will and Mike began slowly walking back towards the ball. They spoke about books and then politics. Will was amazed at that depth with which Mike saw the world.

As the reentered the party, Will saw his sister standing against the wall a few feet away, chatting with Max Mayfield and watching the couples on the dancefloor.

Will led Mike over to her as Max walked away.

As the pair approached her, Will saw her face light up. She stared at Mike with a look of awe he had never seen before.

When Will introduced them, Mike reacted the same way to El. His smile softer but more meaningful than the one he gave Will. After a few minutes of conversation, Mike asked El to dance. As the two of them walked away, Will realized three things.

First, Mike marrying into the Hoppers would help reestablish his family’s reputation—Will’s father was a well-respected General.

Second, if he told El that he was interested in Mike, she would stay away, even if it broke her own heart.

Third, it didn’t matter if El had no interesting marrying Mike. Will was a man in a world where he could do anything except marry another man.

*

“Are you sure you don’t want me to fake a fainting spell?” asked Max, one arm threaded through Will’s and the other fanning her face.

Will scoffed, “Me having a fainting spell would be much more believable than you having one.”

“True, but it probably wouldn’t help the rumors that you’re in love with the groom,” Max said, dropping her voice to a whisper.

Will gave her a look, annoyed at her for saying the truth.

Max widened her eyes at him daring him to say it wasn’t true.

It wasn’t that Will had kept it a secret exactly—both Will and Max knew Will had always been in love with Mike, that was the whole reason they married: they were both in love with men they could never be with, but Will had never said so out loud.

“We could also just leave with no explanation,” said Max. “I would never had set foot in Lucas’s wedding.”

Will wanted to say that probably had something to do with her breaking his heart, but he bit his tongue.

Instead, he said, “Yes, but the bride wasn’t your sister. I have to be here.”

When Will watched his sister marry Mike, he told himself he didn’t need to be with Mike romantically. He felt honored just to spend time in Mike’s presence, to be able to be a small part of his life. He’s not the only man I’ll ever love, Will told himself. This was the best case scenario. Mike would’ve had to marry a woman eventually, and having that woman be El, this meant he was going to keep Mike in his life—that was enough.

*

On good days it was was.

Nights writing letters in the drawing room in the Hopper’s family estate in silence late into the night. Mike always running out of ink and stealing from Will’s inkpot. Moving to the couch in front of the fireplace, sitting sit by side talking about anything and everything.

Trips to the new capital on the Potomac as Mike began his political career. Strolling along the swampy excuse for a river, Will unimpressed, but Mike with a million brilliant ideas of what this city could become.

Watching his nephews and nieces grow and show the innate goodness they had inherited from their parents. Will drawing some of the scenes from books that Mike and El read to them and the children hanging them above their beds.

*

On bad days, Will wants to rip his heart out of his chest. It already feels like his body is going to collapse in on itself.

The silence that falls when Will writes his letters with Max reading a book is companionable, but it isn’t the feeling of contentment he gets with Mike.

When El makes Mike laugh and hideous jealousy courses through his veins.  

When he attends a party and is reminded he’ll never dance with the person he loves.

*

Sometimes Will stares at Mike and he just feels in awe of him. Watching Mike smile feels like witnessing some kind of miracle. Will kept telling himself that he would fall in love with someone else, but as the years go by, Will knows he never will.

He tries to be grateful because without Mike Wheeler, Will never would’ve known what it feels like to love someone.

*

When the Mike moved his family to Washington, D.C., Will savored every letter he gets.

He realized with some embarrassment that Mike’s words felt intimate and warm than any lover’s arms ever had.

*

Mike lays on his bed, pale and coughing.

 _Much too young_ , thinks Will.  _Too young. Too soon. El’s not ready. The kids are too young, they’re not ready. We’re not ready. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I’m not ready to live without you._

He kneels beside the bed and takes Mike’s hand. He can already feel tears welling up in his eyes.

“Will,” he says. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“For what?” Will asks.

“Everything,” says Mike. “Everything I have is because I met you—my wife, my family, my career.”

“I did introduce you to your wife, but I can take no credit for your career: the speeches, the platforms you ran on, the legislation you passed. That was all you.”

“Maybe you don’t remember,” says Mike. “The night we met, I told you all of my crazy political aspirations and you told me you thought I could do it. You’re the first person who believed in me.”

Will doesn’t remember what he said, but he’s sure he would’ve immediately followed Mike off the edge of the earth, so he probably would’ve said something about believing in him when Mike brought up his political ambitions.

“I think I was right to believe in you, Senator,” says Will.

“I hope I made you proud—”

“You did, of course you did,” Will assures him.

Mike smiles at him and the two sit in silence for a few moments.

“I met you first,” says Mike, something different in his tone of voice.

Will had been looking down at Mike’s hand, but now he looks up at his face. Mike’s eyes, so tired looking, gaze into Will’s.

“In another life…” Mike continues.

Will says, “I know.”


	2. Flapper Girl - Jopper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jopper + Flapper Girl by The Lumineers, requested by anonymous

The first thing Hopper did every morning when he walked into Hawkins High was look for Joyce. He didn’t realize this was the first thing he did, it was a subconscious thing. He also didn’t realize how it would affect his mood for the rest of the day. Days where he could make Joyce laugh before first period put him in a good enough mood that he could tolerate Mrs. Howard’s spit-talking and Ted Wheelers’ B.O. A morning without Joyce, however, led to staring at the clock, wishing he could just jump out the window and leave this town in the dust of his GTO.   **  
**

One morning, Hopper looked down the hallway and was pleased to see the hem of Joyce’s t-shirt and her ripped jeans sticking out beneath her locker door. He smiled without realizing it, already thinking of hilarious story to tell her.

“Hey Joyce—” Hopper stopped short as Joyce turned around to face him and he realized she had cut off all her hair.

Well, not all of it, but it used to hang down to her waist and now it ended at her chin.

“Yeah?” Joyce asked, turning back around to shove a book into her locker.

Whatever Hopper was going to say had disappeared from his mind. “Uh, did you do Cooper’s homework? Think I could copy?”

“Yeah I got it from someone, who got it from someone, who got it from Bob the Brain, hang on,” Joyce began pulling out notebooks and textbooks, opening them to look for her homework assignment.

Hopper couldn’t look away from the small curls around her neck. He thought her hair was beautiful before, but he really liked this haircut too. There was a frazzledness to it, and well, he would never say it to her face, but if there was one word that would describe Joyce, it would be frazzled.

“Here you go,” said Joyce, passing him a sheet of paper.

Hopper flipped the paper over, wondering,  _What the hell is this—Oh right, Mr. Cooper’s homework._

“I like the, uh, the hair,” said Hopper, clearing his throat.

“Oh, yeah,” said Joyce, reaching up to touch the ends of her hair. “Thanks, Hop.”

“New look for graduation?” Hopper asked.

“I don’t know,” said Joyce. “I just… I looked in the mirror and it was like…”  She gestured vaguely. “I just couldn’t look at that anymore.”

Hopper nodded like he knew what Joyce meant even though he didn’t.

She closed her locker and leaned against it.

“It’s just, like, I can’t stand it here, and I can’t change Hawkins, but I can change myself,” she said.

Hating Hawkins was something Hopper could understand.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get out of here. After graduation, I’m driving away and never looking back. I can’t wait to never see anyone from this stupid town again.”

Joyce bit her lip and nodded, eyes on the floor.

“Hey Babe,” said Lonnie, appearing out of nowhere to lift Joyce off her feet and kiss her.

“Lonnie,” Joyce said, giggling a little.

Lonnie continued to kiss her as Joyce leaned back.

“Lonnie,” she said more seriously, gently pushing him away. “I think that’s enough for right now.”

Lonnie just moved from her lips to kiss her neck.

Hopper slammed his hand against the lockers, the sound causing Lonnie to finally stop.

“She said that’s enough,” said Hopper already accepting the suspension he was going to get for kicking Lonnie’s ass.

“Back off, Hopper,” said Lonnie, releasing Joyce to glare at Hopper head on.

“Both of you stop it,” said Joyce just as the warning bell for homeroom rang.

Hopper and Lonnie still stared at each other, ready for a fight.

“Let’s go, Lonnie,” Joyce said as she tugged on Lonnie’s arm and started dragging him down the hallway.

Hopper clenched his jaw and willfully ignored the pang he felt in his chest watching Joyce walk away from him with another man.

“There’s something different about you today,” Hopper heard Lonnie say.

 _Yeah, it’s not like ten inches of hair is a big difference_ , thought Hopper as he rolled his eyes.  _Dick._

He took solace in the fact that only eighty three days separated himself from now and never seeing anyone in this stupid town again.

*

The first thing Hopper did when he came back to Hawkins is look for Joyce—a conscious decision this time.

He had fucked up by never saying anything. He told himself that Joyce knew. That when he said he never wanted to see anyone in Hawkins again, he meant everyone but her. That when they were blowing smoke rings, they were sending coded messages to each other. That they might not be together right, but they both knew they would be one day.

The light turned green and he continued towards Joyce’s house—well, her parents’ house. He wasn’t sure if she still lived there, but he always got along with Joyce’s mom. He could catch up with her and get Joyce’s new address.

Hopper knew they both had shit to figure out, but he had. He had made deputy in New York City of all places. It was time to pick Joyce up in his (albeit used and in need of some work) Cadillac and wave goodbye to all of Hawkins.

Hopper knew it had been awhile since he had spoken to Joyce—and that was his fault—but he knew as soon as they saw each other again, it would be like nothing changed. For him, it was always going to be Joyce. And he knew Joyce had to feel that way too.

Hopper slowed down as he approached the stop sign before Joyce’s house. He had planned to roll through it, but he saw something that made him break hard, the coffee in his mug sloshing out a bit into the cup holder.

It was Joyce stepping out of the passenger seat of a sedan. She looked different, paler, skinner, but still as beautiful as she had always been.

_Wait, oh fucking hell, no way is she still with that asshole._

Lonnie had stepped out of the drivers seat and lit a cigarette.

Hopper felt panic building in his chest—how could they still be together at this point? Were they married, living together? They had to be after all this time.

As thousands of worries ran through his head, he realized Joyce had been grabbing an overstuffed bag out of the backseat and then— _holy shit_ —she grabbed a baby out of its car seat.

Hopper felt so stupid. He had been living in a complete fantasy world. Him and Joyce were nothing. Old friends who had lost touch with each other. And here Hopper was acting like they were star crossed lovers or some shit.

Lonnie threw his cigarette on the ground and walked around the car. He put a hand on Joyce’s shoulder and followed her up the steps to the front door.

A car honked and startled Hopper out of his shock. He realized he was still stopped at the stop sign.

Thankfully—unfortunately?—Neither Joyce or Lonnie turned around at the sound of the honk.

Hopper turned his car around doing a very illegal u-turn. He’d head back to his parents’ place tonight and then tell them something came up at work and leave first thing in the morning.

There was nothing for him in this god forsaken town after all.


	3. When I'm With You - Lumax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When I'm With You - Best Coast requested by the lovely @michael-hearteyes-wheeler!

Max knew UCLA had been the right choice. 

It didn’t matter that she had slowly fallen in love with Hawkins. With the teeny tiny downtown with that housed a whopping two decent restaurants. With the leaves that turned bright, beautiful colors she’d never seen in California. And most importantly, with the people who became her family. 

Hawkins didn’t have the ocean (no matter how many times the party argued with her that Lake Michigan was basically the same thing). It didn’t have endless days of sunshine. It didn’t have the unexplainable feeling of comfort and familiarity she felt in California, even in the parts of the state she hadn’t been before. 

At least that’s what she told herself as her dad pulled out of the parking lot and she turned back around to face her dorm building, a sense of both abandonment and adventure swirling in the pit of her stomach.

She had been able to tag along with the Sinclairs to drop Lucas off at Yale, as his semester started a few weeks before her first quarter. She wondered if this was how he felt after they all drove away. Was it panic or excitement that won out in the end for him?

She decided to ask him, heading back into her dorm room and dialing the number of his dorm room, then panicking because it was only 1 p.m. and he was probably in class, but oh wait, no, there’s a three hour time difference now—

“Hello?”

“Hey stalker,” said Max, relaxing into her chair.

“Hi Mad Max,” she could hear the smile in Lucas’s voice. “You get moved in okay?”

“Yeah, first one here, so I got to claim bottom bunk.”

Lucas asked about her room and how her dad is doing, distracting her from the reason she called until a silence settles, the terror creeps back in, and she remembers. 

“Be honest were you kind of freaking out when your parents and Erica and I left you at your dorm room?”

“Oh no, I was completely calm waiting for the stranger I was supposed to be sleeping five feet from to come back from shopping, alone in a city I had only been in once before, no idea what college classes would be like…” Lucas paused. “Of course I was freaking out. I sobbed into my pillow. And if you tell any of the party I told you that I’m flying to California and stealing your skateboard.”

“So what I’m hearing is that if I want you to visit, I just have to tell Dustin how you cried like a little baby.”

“I’d rather you just ask me to visit.”

“Okay, I guess I could just do that.”

*

Lucas never understood the way Max used “home” interchangeably to refer to Hawkins and California until he left Indiana himself. 

He never thought he’d miss boring Hawkins, where nothing ever changed. But he missed knowing every street name, every curve of the road, every neighbor’s name. He missed the ice cream from Scoops Ahoy, even though the Baskin-Robbins around the corner tastes nearly identical. When classes felt too difficult, when friends felt too few and far between, he found himself wishing for home. 

Then, he went back to Hawkins for Christmas break and felt the same yearning for home, only this time home was New Haven. He felt himself wishing for his favorite bench in the park near campus, for a place with a decent latte, and even for his usual spot in among the stacks in the library. 

“It’s so weird how New Haven feels like home now, but Hawkins also feels like home, but, like, in a different way” he told Max as they sat on the floor of his bedroom.

“I know what you mean,” said Max, stretching her leg out to push her foot playfully against Lucas’s. “I wish I could have Hawkins and LA together.”

“And New Haven?” Lucas asked softly, ready to laugh it off as a joke, but hoping Max would say yes.

“And New Haven,” Max agreed, smiling at him. 

*

Max loved when Lucas came to visit. All of the places she felt tired of—Third Street Promenade, the Getty, Dodger’s games—were all made new every time he came to visit. She was never bored with him around, even if they were just skating in circles around Venice or sharing an In-N-Out shake. 

Instead of getting used to being apart, Max felt it getting harder and harder to be without Lucas each passing year. The ocean’s beauty dimmed without Lucas’s perpetual astonishment in every detail at the beach. The view around the Griffith Observatory wasn’t as beautiful without him in the foreground. 

Worse was going back to her apartment at the end of each day and going to bed alone. She hated that she had ever complained about Lucas’s snoring. She’d put up with any amount of noise just to know he was right there, within arm’s reach. 

The truth was she was starting to feel like home wasn’t a city, it was Lucas. The last time she visited Lucas, she felt just as at home wandering around New Haven with his hand in hers as she did wandering around LA. 

*

Their lives take Max and Lucas many places: New York for a few years, then to San Francisco for grad school, then back to Hawkins when Mrs. Sinclair falls ill, then to Portland, then finally back to Los Angeles to be near Max’s father when they find out she’s pregnant. 

Lucas doesn’t even realize how that yearning for towns past disappears when he moves in to his first apartment with Max, never to reappear through any of these cities. 

Now when his boss is being impossible or he feels lonely, he still wishes for home. But home is now the arms of his wife, wherever she may be. 

Max doesn’t notice the way she stops comparing every city to her hometown. 

Whatever city she’s in, it’s just the backdrop. Her home is standing firmly in the foreground, and even when he’s not there, she can close her eyes and see him so clearly with the long-ago-lost camouflage bandana across his forehead.


End file.
